Week 3

2009 – 2010 Week 3

We started off with great results from the weekly spelling test. The children are also becoming more familiar with the homework format and are remembering to turn in their homework on time. Keep up the great work 3b; you are stars!

On Wednesday we had our first flag ceremony and everyone looked great in their yellow (or white) and blue .. we looked like a real team. Great job everyone!

Also on Wednesday we had our “Welcome Party”. Thanks to all the parents who prepared food and came to join us. It was a very delicious lunch!

Our story this week was “The Day Eddie Met the Author” and we discussed who we would like to meet.

In Phonics we learned how to add “-ed” and “-ing” to the end of words. Sometimes we need to drop the “e” at the end of the root word before adding “ed” for example dance becomes danced, and sometimes we need to double the consonant at the end of the root word before adding “ing”, for example hop becomes hopping.

Our grammar lesson covered commands and exclamations – a command ends with a period and is when we tell someone to do something, for example, “Please turn in your homework.” And an exclamation ends with an exclamation mark and is when we show strong feelings, for example “That was amazing!”

Our skill of the week was alphabetical order. Everyone could put words in order based on the first and second letter but many of the class are still struggling with using the 3^rd or 4^th letters. We will need to do a bit more practice over the next few weeks.

We have continued reading the African folk tale, Kabuka and the Magic Calabash. This is the story about Kabuka, a mischievous little monkey who meets Amanzi (the rain spirit) and is sent on a mission to save the world from a terrible drought. Ask your children to give you updates on Kabuka’s adventure.

In Math we have now completed Chapter 1 and most students are comfortable rounding, comparing, and ordering numbers. We can write numbers up to 999,999 in the table form, standard form, expanded form, and word form.

The Chapter 1 test will take place on Tuesday 22^nd Sept. (and not on Monday as they wrote in their homework books). We will use Monday to review Chapter one concepts and vocabulary.

Chapter 2 will start on Thursday. We will be looking at how $1, 10c (dimes), and 1c (pennies) can be written in table form. We will then learn to count out change using American money denominations of 1 cent (a penny), 5 cents (a nickel), 10 cents (a dime), 25 cents (a quarter), 50 cents (a half dollar), $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.

This is a difficult concept and seeing real American money would help. If you have any money to lend or donate to 3b please will you send it in on Monday. Thank you.

Here’s a game for you to play at home which would really help the students be able to master this difficult section.

The game is “Dollar Dunk” (based on the card game called “Go Fish”)

For this game you need:

Ten 1c cards, ten 5c cards, eight 10c cards, eight 25 c cards, and four 50 c cards (a total of 40 cards)

You can play with 2 – 4 people

Each person starts with 5 cards

The object is to put down cards which add up to $1

If the person can’t put down cards adding up to $1 they need to ask someone in the group for a card e.g. Sonia do you have any 50 c cards? ... if Sonia has, she must give the person the card ... if she doesn’t, the person must pick up a card from the extra pile of cards.

The first person to get rid of all their cards is the winner

Good Luck … may the best person win.

In Social Studies we looked at our heritage and how that influences our customs and what holiday’s we celebrate. We also learned how important laws are and how we can be responsible citizens. We will review Chapter 1 vocabulary this week and start Chapter 2 by looking at some basic map skills.

During the week a few students shared some information about themselves. This is what we learned:

Victor shared with us his toy alligator which can be registered on-line as a pet.

Jason showed us a great 3D shiny glass model which had a picture of the Beijing Olympic Stadium inside. He made it light up and it looked really awesome.

Sonia showed us her pet crab which she has kindly given to 3b as our new class pet. It is really cool and tried to climb up the side of the glass. We need to think of a name for him/her .. so let me know your ideas.

Yao showed us a clever trick, where he caught a coin after first balancing it on his elbow.

Next week we will not have presentations but I have an exciting lesson planned instead.

On Monday we will have a spelling test on all the spelling words from this past week.

Next Saturday is PTA open house and so I may not be able to update the blog next weekend. Please look in your homework notebooks for any important notes.

The UNICEF project has started and I would like to thank you all for the school supplies you have sent in for the children down south who lost so much in the recent typhoon. If you still have any pencils, erasers, colored pencils etc. at home which you don’t need please send them in before Wednesday. Thanks.

I will be sending home a sponsorship form for our Walk-a-thon which will be held on Friday 2^nd October from 5 to 6:30pm. I really hope that you can all join us and help raise money to help those far less fortunate than us.

Some of the other things happening in October as part of the UNICEF project are:

• Wednesday sales during lunch in Grade 5 (so bring money and buy some tasty snacks each Wednesday).
• There will be a coin collection competition during the week of 12-16 October. Please collect your coins and bring them to school that week.
• On Friday 16^th October from 6-9pm there is a Music night. Mrs. Levine and I are encouraging our classes to join us in performing the song “Tell me why?” by Declan Galbraith for this music night. Rehearsals will take place after school until 5pm every Tuesday and Friday until the 16^th . I hope all of 3b can join in.
• On Wednesday 28^th October from 11am to 3pm we will have our Halloween Carnival. We need to have a 3b booth and I would really appreciate your ideas for this. I hope you will all dress up and join us for this fun day.

See you on Monday, 3b!

Mrs.DB

Week 2

Mrs. DB’s Class BlogSpot

2009 – 2010 Week 2

We have had a good week; things are becoming familiar and everyone is settling into the new school routine.

We had our first set of birthdays this week. Richard and Sandra had celebrated their birthdays in August during the Summer Vacation and Alica’s was on Monday. They each enjoyed their ice cream treat for lunch on Tuesday.

We received notice that there will be swimming again next week so please don’t forget to bring your swim suits to PE class.

This was taken at the beginning of our first swimming class.

In Language Arts we read “Ruby the Copycat” and learned that we all are special and have something to contribute. We also discussed the characters in the story and the setting. In grammar and phonics we looked at Statements and Questions, and reviewed short vowel sounds. Next week we will learn about Commands and Exclamations and the endings –ed and –ing.

Don’t forget that we have our weekly spelling test on Monday.

In Social Studies we looked at Communities; how we belong, and the fun we have, as well as various jobs and how we rely on each other in our communities. Next week we look at how cultures are the same and different and what it means to be a good citizen.

In Math we learned about rounding off, comparing, and ordering numbers. We discovered that 10 strips of 10 squares joined together 10 times equals 1,000 .. and that is a long strip of paper.

Next week we continue rounding off larger numbers, place value to 10 thousands and 100 thousands, and will also do some problem solving. This will bring us to the end of Chapter One in Math. There will be a Chapter One test the following Monday (22^nd) when they will be tested on the vocabulary and content of this Chapter.

In Science we continued looking at plants and started to grow some seeds. We discovered that green beans grow really fast.

We also looked at our plants from last week. As we predicted the ones without water or light did not do so well.

On Tuesday we will have a Science test on Chapter 1 vocabulary and content. (Pages A36 – A37 of the text book will help you to review the material)

Science Chapter 2 starts on Wednesday and we will start learning about animal homes and how animals find food and take care of themselves.

If anyone has a fish tank that you don’t want it would be great to use it in the classroom.

On Thursday some students shared a little about themselves. This is what we learned:

Ricky showed us his Bionicle which he received from his aunt.

Gloria showed us some photos of when she was in Canada. She told us that she really enjoyed playing in the snow.

Jonathan Ai shared his favorite book – Pokemon. He also told us that he likes to draw, play soccer and basketball.

Jolene showed us the flag she got at the world games in Kaohsiung. She had a great time.

Jason showed us a picture of himself climbing a tree when he was 7 years old.

Thanks to the subject monitors this week for sorting out all our work. It was a hard job but you all did an incredible job. So well-done Jolene, Jason, Richard, Sonia, and Ricky!

Thanks to all of you for doing such a great job during clean up time. Keep up the good work!

Thank you to all the parents who helped with taking temperatures and helping me a lunch time. I really appreciate your help.

I hope you enjoy the photos of our week.

Wishing you a great weekend,

See you on Monday, Grade 4!

Mrs.DB

Week 1

2009 – 2010 Week 1

The new school year has begun and we are all settling in to our new school and new grade.

There are 20 students in our class ... 18 students came up from our Grade 2 a or 2b class from last year and we have 2 new students.

We have spent the week getting to know each other, learning new routines, and starting some work.

On Thursday and Friday each student brought in something to tell the class a little about themselves. This is what we learned.

Yao likes to travel and he really enjoyed his trip to Korea.

Justin enjoys reading and shared some of the parts he enjoyed from the book “King Solomon’s mines”.

Sonia likes to play the piano and practices between 30 minutes to 1 hour every day.

Joshua shared with us his favorite book, “Big bugs”. He told us about his favorite bug – the wind scorpion which eats bugs, spiders, and even small birds.

Wesley brought in his bug to show us but it was a little shy and stayed hidden in the soil.

JC (Jonathan Chen) showed us his transformer that he thinks is cool.

Nick shared with us the first toy he ever had; a bear which he got from Japan.

Jasmine likes to do art and showed us one of her favorite pieces.

Alica is an inventor and showed us the robot she built.

Nicole showed us a photo of when she went to a restaurant called “Run Forest Run” which is a theme restaurant based on the movie “Forest Gump”.

Richard shared with us his favorite toy which is a bionicle which has a cool mask.

Elijah likes building roller coasters using his favorite computer program.

Sandra enjoys reading the book “Glitter girls”.

Jason showed us his pet hamster who likes to run on his wheel and watch TV.

Nina showed us two photos – one of them was when she was a baby.

Congratulations to Sonia who won 1st place in a Piano competition over the summer.

Please remember to let me know if you are competing or performing or have won any awards over the weekend.

We started working on our first Social Studies theme – “Communities are People”. We discussed that the most important part of a community is the people. We are all part of many communities, from small family communities to the big world community. We will be looking at this theme for the next 3 weeks and next week we look at working and playing in our community. You are welcome to preview read pages 12 to 15 for Monday’s class and pages 16 to 19 for Thursday’s class.

In Science we learned about plant parts and what plants need to survive. We looked at how water travels up plant stems in a fun activity. We put a piece of celery in colored water and watched as the color slowly moved up the stem and changed the color of the leaves. We also started an experiment to see what would happen to a plant if it received no water and what would happen to a plant if it received very little sunlight. We will observe these plants over the next few days and see what happens to them.

Next week, we will be learning about seeds. We will begin on Monday by setting up an activity where we will grow some seeds. (I hope you all remember to bring some seeds to grow .. red, black, or green and soy beans grow really well).

In math we have been looking at place and value of digits and have started rounding to the nearest 10 or 100. Most students are doing really well but some are finding it more difficult and need help in remembering to read the instructions carefully. Next week, we will look at “How Big is 1000”,” Place Value to 1000”,” Comparing Numbers”, and “Ordering Numbers from least to greatest”.

In English next week we start the first story in our Storytown book. The story is “Ruby the Copycat” about a girl who learns that it is ok to be yourself. In phonics we will review the short vowels, and our grammar lesson will focus on statements and questions.

Thanks to all the parents who joined us in our class room on Thursday. It was great meeting you all and I look forward to getting to know you all better during the year.

I hope you enjoy the photos of our first week.

See you on Monday, 3b

Mrs.DB